A brief overview of what is currently trending on X in news, culture, and/or trending hashtags and formats.
📆 World Emoji Day: Today, July 17, marks World Emoji Day (proof: the Calendar emoji). A symbol of when iCal for Mac was debuted at the 2002 MacWorld Expo, the day has since transformed into a reason to share all your favorites.
📦 Prime Day: Day #2 of Amazon's annual deal event is going strong with X users sharing memes and how they really feel about the discounts.
🎤 National Anthem: X users still aren't over country music star Ingrid Andress' rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at The Home Run Derby. Since going viral, the singer has claimed she was drunk and is headed to rehab.
A deeper dive into a subject that is impacting culture on a macro level, beyond just the social space.
The Power of Compelling Mystery: Longlegs
What it is: If you haven't heard of indie horror film Longlegs, it may because of their stealth marketing campaign. Independent distributor Neon took a "less-is-more" approach that built up serious intrigue and has the internet buzzing. While you may know their former win, 2019's Parasite, nothing else has made the mark for them... until now. Directed by Osgood Perkins, the film follows Maika Monroe as F.B.I. Agent Lee Harker, who is tracking the serial killer known as "Longlegs" played by none other than Nicolas Cage. With ticket sales shattering expectations, it's become clear that their unique marketing materials baited consumers who are now flocking to theaters. How'd they pull it off? They started in January, releasing several cryptic teasers without spoiling the plot. These teasers were filled with riddles and made no indication of Nicolas Cage's casting. What followed were billboards with a phone number where people could listen to a voice message from Cage in character. Next? A 90s-era website that laid out the crimes of Longlegs, giving a similar vibe to The Blair Witch Project. And finally, a last teaser showing Maika Monroe seeing Cage as Longlegs for the first time while attached to a heart rate monitor. Since then, Longlegs has had the biggest opening of the year for an original horror film & the best opening for an indie horror film in about a decade.
What brands can learn: Why does this matter? Well, if we learned anything from Barbie & Oppenheimer it's that brilliant marketing can seed a viral phenomenon. Beyond viscerally grabbing the viewer, Longlegs withheld key information from audiences to break through the noise. What pushed this campaign over the edge was the true sense of emotion it evoked in people. The teasers stoked anxiety, the riddles fascination, the billboards fear, and the website intellectual stimulation. All of that with the last trailer immersed consumers into the mystery of the story that made them feel personally involved. By not laying all their cards out on the table, Neon got people talking, wondering, & investigating. Rather than oversell & over-inform, the winning element of this campaign was its opacity. Brands, never underestimate that less can very much be more.
Examples: 1, 2, 3
Four must-click links that crossed our feeds today.
🎶 Instagram is giving users the ability to add up to 20 songs on Reels at a time… so prepare for videos to get crazy
🍲 What’s in Costco’s viral apocalypse food bucket? The menu for the end of the world actually sounds appetizing.
🇲🇳 The internet has named its best-dressed pick ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony: Mongolia.
❎ Brat summer is the antithesis of the "Clean Girl" aesthetic made popular by TikTok. Slick buns are out while dirty, hedonistic, happiness is in.
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